Tag Archives: Family

Save Ferris

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Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ferris Buehler

We try to have family meetings on a regular basis; not just in the middle of a crisis, or even in its aftermath, (though sometimes by necessity it happens then…) The purpose of the meeting is to take stock – individually & as a whole – of what’s happening in our lives. What we’re enjoying, & what brings life; what we’re struggling with, & wish would just go away. (NOTE: family members are exempt from the list of things that need to ‘go away.’)

Entering school year 2008/2009, I am struck by the need for this time together – to be able to have every member speak out & be heard, & maybe more importantly, to hear others. I think its because it gives us time & pause to regroup; to reprioritize; to change; to forgive; to give focus to something that has been neglected, forgotten, or avoided; to remind ourselves of who & what we want to be – again, as individuals & as a family. To pull in close, & feel the strength of standing together, for each other.

It’s a girl…!

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Before you start offering congratulations on a little 9-month surprise, (no, we’re not having a baby,) I need to ‘splain. Or if there is no time, at least to sum up. Our family is growing.

Coming up on 8 September, Julia Kern, a 19-year old from a town in the SW of Germany, near “Ottesweier”, is coming to live with us for between 6-9 months… depending on her VISA (not the credit card, the application to stay in the US.)

The picture above was taken in May of this year – Julia is wearing the black shirt, & is standing in the front (middle), right next to her big little sister Linda, & her parents (on the left). On the right are two of my favorite people – Johannes & Anja Livelli – & we had just spent the evening eating pizza & drinking the local red .

When we’ve talked to people about Julia’s impending arrival, they inevitably ask:

  • How did you find her?
    TheBean & I know her pastor, Roland Lorenz. We’ve been getting together each November at the Foursquare Germany Pastors Conference. Julia has wanted to visit (& live) in the States, & Roland helped us to connect with Julia & her family in August 2007… & we’ve been in touch for the last year planning this… (Roland is in the picture below…)
  • Where is she going to stay?
    In our house. In one of the rooms. Not with Pasty or Joey…
  • Why would you have someone stay with you for so long?
    We like having people live with us – there are qualifiers for that… :) Part of it is that we love Germany, college students, & relationship-based Christ-following. This is the perfect situation where they all come together.
  • What if it doesn’t work out?
    Then I will have a series of cool blogs to write. :) I think we’ll grow through this, & we’ll make it. She’s low-maintenance, great with kids, & it’s not something we’re freaking out about.
  • What do your kids think?
    Depends on when you ask them… We talked about this A LOT & made the decision about it as a family.

    Just about every time. Just about every question.

    So, it’s on – insta-family addition, w/o the pain of diapers. We’ll never be the same. Can’t wait.

    No, yes I can. But we are looking forward to it.

    • Milestone…

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    This a.m., my daughter, the Weez, the youngest child, the only girl, the character actress, the songster, the Princess Buttercup… is off to Jr High Camp… as a camper. Sigh…

    Time flies.

    Sometimes…

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    Sometimes I forget.

    And then I Do… worry ensues. Anxiety. Cares. Frustrations. Heaviness. Burdens. Hard to breathe. Fighting hopelessness. Despair. Like real foes – it’s almost tangible when they enter the room.

    Sometimes I remember.

    And then I Be… fully present where I am. With others. Engaged. Refreshing. Lightening. Glimmers of hope & peace that never totally go away emerge…

    stubbornness as a character trait (or flaw)…

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    Thursday, the Bean went in to the friendly neighborhood Cingular/ATT store in order to get an issue with Pasty’s phone taken care of… at least that’s the main reason. She happened to come out with a brand spanking new celly from Palm. Since we’re on the same plan, I was surprised to hear that she had been able to upgrade her now old phone already, as its usually at least 24 months between ‘free’ upgrades. (Don’t get me started.) BTW: it’s a Palm Centro that has just joined the family.

    Seems that the local neighborhood ATT guy helped her get around the little “24 month til you can upgrade for free” by using one of the other lines on the account that WAS NEWLY ELIGIBLE for the upgrade to get her a new phone for just $***, (after the 356 month rebate, of course.) Guess who’s newly eligible line was appropriated? If you guess anyone other than me, you’d be wrong.

    So what’s the rub? It’s not like I was looking to get a new phone – though I was enjoying my status of being “out of contract.” I have found ATT to be very willing to negotiate group rate & feature prices, as well as offering free stuff, good phone upgrades etc in order to “woo” you into signing over your life for Yet Another 24 month period of time.

    The catch in this process came when i was on my way home to the little woman, & thought I’d bless her with a warning call – one of those, “Hi Honey, I’ll be home in 20 minutes…” calls. My line went directly to ATT Customer Service where I was told that in order to use my phone, & as a part of the upgrade that I had just received, I would need to agree to surrender my long-awaited “out of service” status to be once again, enslaved by the corporate giant that is ATT. And, until I did, my phone privileges were suspended.

    I arrived home to find only Cubby (the nickname I’ve given to the 13 year old after a recent bout of In-School Discipline for something that Wasn’t His Fault.) I used Cubby’s phone to call ATT & talk to a live person. 2 different people took 30 minutes to describe the WHY behind my line suspension. Why MY line suspension? Because “i” had recently upgraded my phone. I tried to explain that no, I hadn’t upgraded my phone, but someone in their retail store had pulled a switcheroo. As you can probably imagine, they don’t care.

    So now – I have a cell phone that is suspended until I agree to the 24 month contract extension. And, to me, it makes perfect sense that I will not agree to that contract extension. On principle.

    If you’ve tried to reach me by cell, it’s not that I am “not taking calls” as the nice lady with the psycho-recording voice stated – its that unbeknownst to me, my right to freedom from a celly contract was violated in the name of getting the Bean an upgraded phone. And my line is suspended until I do agree. Which might be a while…

    update…

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  • After further contemplating the contemplation post, Ben has decided to grace theMoses & I with his presence at the Abbey in April. Good times. Thanks for playing along Ben… we’ll be growing. Even the Bean is looking forward to me going. (Is there a theme here that I should be paying attention to?)

  • When it rains, it pours – the last 10 days have been gnarly in the news they’ve brought – & not Gnarly like the snowboarders throw it around, but gnarly like when I was a kid waaaaayyy back in the 80s… a recurring theme: friends & the burning out & falling apart, brought about by the Machine’s chewing up & spitting out…

  • Dancing? True – the Pasty Gangster went to the JA Dance last Saturday. With a real girl. And danced. We had to go to the place they ate dinner because ALL the parents were going to be overbearing micromanagers of their offspring’s attempts to hang with friends & real dates, (did I just say that out loud?) Errrr… What I meant is that all the parents went so that they could commemorate the stellar event through pictures. Very nice. Pasty cleans up well. The girl he took has a dad that snapped all the ‘formal’ pictures. He took 250 pictures in 20 minutes. That is truly awe-inspiring.

  • I wrote an article that ended up in our denominations quarterly publication… HERE. After seeing the finished (& edited) product for the first time since I sent it off to the editor, I initially had a difficult time determining if I’d really written it, as the word-processor of the editor seems to have been very active, sharp as a two-edged sword, dividing between… you get the idea. I’m not complaining – just really surprised at how different it looks :0

  • NEWSFLASH: Jesus was Jewish. And in the 1st century, lived in a Jewish culture, among Jewish people. And Jesus’ ministry, outlook, & actions are full of Jewish history, references, & information that can’t be separated from that Jewish context. (It’s true.)

  • Youtube means that anyone can be a Live Action Preacher Hero on the Internet TeeVee. Like this guy.